PHOTO COURTESY OF JIMMY JONES Southport High School junior and popular rap artist Jimmy Jones, known on stage as JxmmyJxnes, performs at the Emerson Theater. By Sherri Coner
Southsider Voice correspondent
More than a few times in the last few months, Jimmy Jones felt a need to vent.
“I was going through frustration,” said the Southport High school junior. “All the typical teenage drama and heartache.”
And then, Jones suddenly found himself in touch with just the right people at exactly the right time to ask a few questions about what he felt driven to express and a talent he had kept fairly private.
His love for several music genres, mixed with an interest in sharing those deep-seeded emotions through lyrics, led Jones to a fast-track career with a talent that is no longer private.
These days, he is a well-known Indianapolis-area rap artist, found on the Internet by searching for Jxmmy Jxnes.
The story behind that unusual spelling began when Jones Googled his name.
“There were a million results, as you can imagine,” he said with a laugh.
Along with the stage name, his distinct sound and message has fans referring to Jones as the originator of what they refer to as “trip hop,” due to the psychedelic sound.
So far, listeners are still loving it.
“Back in April, when I joined reverbnation.com, I broke the top 40,” said Jones, whose music can be heard at Youtube.com/JxmmyJxnes
In fact, his work captured the No. 1 spot for several weeks on reverbnation.com.
When he posted a video of his music on social media, Jones found himself again rather stunned by the response.
“My Facebook page just started buzzing,” he said. “I started out with around 500 likes on Facebook. When I posted that video I started getting two and three thousand new likes a week. Right now I have more than 12,000 followers.”
Jones’ sound also caught the attention of producers and managers at the historic Emerson Theater, a well-known music venue in the 4600 block of East 10th St.
He has appeared twice at the popular theater and was the headliner for the second performance. Jones will perform again at the venue Oct. 24.
And it all began with a home studio, some direction from a rapper at another high school and a demo tape landing in the right hands at Irregular Reckords in Indianapolis.
In his limited spare time, Jones, son of James and Chris Jones, enjoys the regular stuff of being 16, hanging around with friends, learning how to play guitar and spending a few hours on Xbox.
But more times than not, he can be found in that basement studio, where so much of his dream found its way out the door and all over the Internet.
“Music is everything to me,” Jones said of his future plans. “This is all I want to do with my life. With music, I’m immortal.”
Southsider Voice correspondent
More than a few times in the last few months, Jimmy Jones felt a need to vent.
“I was going through frustration,” said the Southport High school junior. “All the typical teenage drama and heartache.”
And then, Jones suddenly found himself in touch with just the right people at exactly the right time to ask a few questions about what he felt driven to express and a talent he had kept fairly private.
His love for several music genres, mixed with an interest in sharing those deep-seeded emotions through lyrics, led Jones to a fast-track career with a talent that is no longer private.
These days, he is a well-known Indianapolis-area rap artist, found on the Internet by searching for Jxmmy Jxnes.
The story behind that unusual spelling began when Jones Googled his name.
“There were a million results, as you can imagine,” he said with a laugh.
Along with the stage name, his distinct sound and message has fans referring to Jones as the originator of what they refer to as “trip hop,” due to the psychedelic sound.
So far, listeners are still loving it.
“Back in April, when I joined reverbnation.com, I broke the top 40,” said Jones, whose music can be heard at Youtube.com/JxmmyJxnes
In fact, his work captured the No. 1 spot for several weeks on reverbnation.com.
When he posted a video of his music on social media, Jones found himself again rather stunned by the response.
“My Facebook page just started buzzing,” he said. “I started out with around 500 likes on Facebook. When I posted that video I started getting two and three thousand new likes a week. Right now I have more than 12,000 followers.”
Jones’ sound also caught the attention of producers and managers at the historic Emerson Theater, a well-known music venue in the 4600 block of East 10th St.
He has appeared twice at the popular theater and was the headliner for the second performance. Jones will perform again at the venue Oct. 24.
And it all began with a home studio, some direction from a rapper at another high school and a demo tape landing in the right hands at Irregular Reckords in Indianapolis.
In his limited spare time, Jones, son of James and Chris Jones, enjoys the regular stuff of being 16, hanging around with friends, learning how to play guitar and spending a few hours on Xbox.
But more times than not, he can be found in that basement studio, where so much of his dream found its way out the door and all over the Internet.
“Music is everything to me,” Jones said of his future plans. “This is all I want to do with my life. With music, I’m immortal.”
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